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MONTREAL—It takes a fair bit of snow to get Quebecers anxious about their winter weather.

But the walloping that began Tuesday afternoon paralyzed much of the province by the time people woke Wednesday morning.

The majority of flights out of Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport were canceled, most of the province’s schools were closed, universities shut down and everyone who could do so was urged to stay home from work.

In the worst hit regions of Quebec, up to 75 centimetres of snow was forecast and 100 km/h winds reduced visibility to almost nothing. The dangerous conditions resulted in provincial transportation authorities shutting a 140 kilometre stretch of highway running along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River between Rivière-du-Loup and Mont-Joli.

Environment Canada issued a storm-surge warning for the Quebec City area due to high northeasterly winds and low pressure that could result in raised water levels, local river flooding and the displacement of ice onto shore, which could cause damage to local infrastructure.

Five to 15 centimetres are still expected from the Richelieu Valley to Gaspe, while the north shore from Baie-Comeau to Blanc-Sablon is bracing for as much as an extra 30 centimetres.

In Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, a small town east of Quebec City, police said two people had been discovered dead after a long and difficult search following a distress call from one of the individuals who reported their vehicle was stranded in the snow but couldn’t provide a precise location for rescuers.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard acknowledged Wednesday that emergency services were badly managed in the wake of the storm and called for a thorough analysis to ensure a better co-ordination and communication among emergency services.

"It's an exceptional situation but if there's an exceptional situation there should be an exceptional response," he said in Quebec City."It's a major event. We have hundreds of people stalled on our highways not knowing what is happening. I know that people are working hard on the ground but we have to take the lessons off of this situation and do much better next time."

Closer to Montreal, where some 34 centimetres of snow had fallen and up to 10 centimetres more were expected Wednesday, there were images of Sureté du Québec police officers who had switched their patrol cars for snowmobiles to better get around in the winter storm.

On stretch of highway west of Montreal, some 300 cars were stranded for more than 12 hours after a truck went off the road, and dozens of people spent the night on the highway until they accident was cleared Wednesday morning.

Traveler Marie-Christine Tremblay told CBC Radio-Canada she was at the airport Tuesday evening when she learned that her flight had been cancelled. After waiting more than an hour for a taxi to return home, airport officials arranged for a shuttle to take travelers to the nearest subway station.

Shortly after departing, the shuttle bus got stuck in the traffic along the highway and was unable to move for the next 10 hours.

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